Ciprian Deac

Ciprian Ioan Deac (Romanian pronunciation: [tʃipriˈan iˈo̯an ˈde̯ak, - deˈak]; born 16 February 1986) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder for Liga I club CFR Cluj.

Ciprian Deac

Deac with CFR Cluj in 2022
Personal information
Full name	Ciprian Ioan Deac[1]
Date of birth	(1986-02-16) 16 February 1986 (age 38)
Place of birth	Dej, Romania
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Winger, attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team	CFR Cluj
Number	10
Youth career
1994–2004	Unirea Dej
2004	Gloria Bistrița
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2006	Unirea Dej	27	(2)
2006–2010	CFR Cluj	67	(4)
2008	→ Oțelul Galați (loan)	15	(2)
2010–2012	Schalke 04	2	(0)
2011–2012	→ Rapid București (loan)	30	(9)
2012–2015	CFR Cluj	64	(11)
2015–2016	Aktobe	15	(1)
2016–2017	Tobol	31	(2)
2017–	CFR Cluj	248	(62)
International career
2007–2008	Romania U21	9	(1)
2010–2020	Romania	26	(4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 8 November 2024

After starting out at Unirea Dej, he spent most of his professional career at CFR Cluj, where he won thirteen domestic trophies. With seven of these being national championships, Deac is one of the most decorated players of the competition.^[2] He also had loan stints at Oțelul Galați and Rapid București in Romania, while abroad he represented Schalke 04 in Germany and Aktobe and Tobol in Kazakhstan.

Deac made his international debut for Romania in March 2010, in a 0–2 friendly loss to Israel. He amassed 26 appearances and one goal, before retiring in 2020.

Club career

Early career / Unirea Dej

Deac played as a youngster for Gloria Bistrița, where he was initially deployed as a striker.

He made his senior debut with Unirea Dej, a lower division team. He spent there two seasons and was already scouted by CFR Cluj, however the club who insisted more was Universitatea Cluj who took him for a trial in the camp from Hungary. He managed to impress, however after spending near two months with "U" Cluj the transfer failed due money problems.

CFR Cluj

Deac was finally signed by CFR Cluj during the 2005–06 season, and made his Liga I debut on 6 August 2006 against Unirea Urziceni in a 4–0 victory. During the 2006–07 season led by coach Cristiano Bergodi, he only made eleven appearances for them finishing third place in the Championship. The highlight of his career began in 2007–08 the team's new coach, was Ioan Andone, formerly of Dinamo București who won both the Championship and the Cup.

Deac was loaned out to Oțelul Galați during the 2008 half-season where he made fifteen appearances scoring two goals.

Because of his good performances at Oțelul, Deac was preserved in the CFR Cluj roster for the 2008–09 season. In the first part of the season he made nine appearances. The lack of playing time lead him to consider leaving the club. But with the upcoming new coach Dušan Uhrin, Jr., Deac gave up this plan, receiving assurances that he would be used more. In the 2009–10 season, the team managed to win the league title for the second time in its history, the coach being Andrea Mandorlini who said "Deac has grown into an incredible manner, quantitatively and qualitatively". In the 2010 Super Cup match Deac helped the team prevent a defeat, pushing the game into the penalty shootout. After the match, he was chosen as Man of the match.

Schalke 04

On 27 August 2010, Deac signed for the German club Schalke 04 on a three-year contract.^[3] The reported transfer fee was €3 million. He made his debut for Die Königsblauen on 14 September, in a Champions League game against Olympique Lyonnais.^[4] He only played in the first half, and had a poor performance. He had a very sporadic season in Germany, only appearing in six games, and not putting in very convincing performances.^[5]

In the summer of 2011, Deac was loaned to Liga I team, Rapid București for the 2011–12 campaign.^[6] Schalke hoped he would regain his form that brought him to the international level.^[7]

Deac playing for CFR Cluj in a Liga I match against Gloria Bistrița, on 3 April 2010.

On 20 December, he scored two goals against FC Vaslui.^[8] Although he was sent off, his team won the game with a 3–2 victory,^[9] with Nicolae Grigore scoring the winning goal in extratime. On 7 April 2012, Deac scored a goal in the 5–0 thrashing of CFR Cluj.^[10]

Return to CFR Cluj

On 30 May 2012, Deac returned to CFR Cluj, where he signed a contract for three years.^[11]

Kazakhstan

On 23 June 2015, Deac signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Kazakhstan Premier League side FC Aktobe.^[12] Following the conclusion of the 2015 season, Deac was transfer listed by Aktobe.^[13]

Third spell at CFR Cluj

Deac once again returned to CFR Cluj in January 2017.^[14] He played 15 matches and netted six goals in the remainder of the season, his good display drawing interest from fellow league team FC Steaua București.^[15]

He nevertheless chose to stay with the Alb-vișinii and was offered the number 10 shirt ahead of the 2017–18 campaign. He recorded his first goal of the season in a 1–0 away win over Concordia Chiajna on 17 September 2017.^[16] Deac contributed with five goals and eleven assists, with the side claiming the fourth national championship in its history.^[17]

International career

Deac made his debut for the Romania under-21 team on 1 June 2007, in a 1–1 draw against France. He was selected by manager Victor Pițurcă for Romania's preliminary squad to play at the UEFA Euro 2008, but eventually missed out on the final list. On 5 March 2010, Deac finally earned his first cap for the seniors in a 0–2 friendly match loss to Israel in Timișoara.

In August 2017, following a six-year absence, he was called up by Christoph Daum for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Armenia and Montenegro.^[18] Deac scored his first goal for the national team in a 1–1 draw with Denmark, on 8 October 2017.^[19]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 8 November 2024^[20][21]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Unirea Dej	2004–05	Divizia B	4	0	0	0	0	0	—		4	0
	2005–06		23	2	2	0	0	0	—		25	2
	Total		27	2	2	0	0	0	—		29	2
CFR Cluj	2006–07	Liga I	11	0	0	0	0	0	—		11	0
	2007–08		10	0	1	0	1	0	—		12	0
	2008–09		18	2	2	0	2[a]	0	—		22	2
	2009–10		24	2	3	0	6[b]	0	—		33	2
	2010–11		4	0	0	0	0	0	1[c]	0	5	0
	Total		67	4	6	0	9	0	1	0	83	4
Oțelul Galați (loan)	2007–08	Liga I	15	2	0	0	0	0	—		15	2
Schalke 04	2010–11	Bundesliga	2	0	0	0	3[a]	0	—		5	0
Rapid București (loan)	2011–12	Liga I	30	9	5	2	7[b]	1	—		42	12
CFR Cluj	2012–13		18	3	4	0	1[a]	0	1[c]	0	24	3
	2013–14		28	6	1	0	0	0	—		29	6
	2014–15		18	2	1	0	4[d]	0	—		23	2
	Total		64	11	6	0	5	0	1	0	76	11
Aktobe	2015	Kazakh Premier League	15	1	1	0	2[b]	0	—		18	1
Tobol	2016		31	2	1	0	0	0	—		32	2
CFR Cluj	2016–17	Liga I	14	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	15	6
	2017–18		34	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	35	5
	2018–19		26	4	4	0	2[a]	0	1[c]	0	33	4
	2019–20		25	14	0	0	16[e]	4	1[c]	0	42	18
	2020–21		34	13	0	0	9[f]	1	1[c]	0	44	14
	2021–22		39	10	1	0	14[g]	2	1[c]	0	55	12
	2022–23		31	6	2	0	16[h]	2	1[c]	0	50	8
	2023–24		33	3	4	0	0[i]	0	—		37	3
	2024–25		12	2	1	0	5[i]	0	—		18	2
	Total		248	63	14	0	62	9	5	0	329	72
Career total			499	93	35	2	88	10	7	0	629	106

1. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
2. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
3. Appearance in Supercupa României
4. One appearance in UEFA Champions League, four appearances in UEFA Europa League
5. Eight appearances and one goal in UEFA Champions League, eight appearances and three goals in UEFA Europa League
6. Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, seven appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
7. Six appearances in UEFA Champions League and one goal, two appearances in UEFA Europa League, six appearances in UEFA Conference League and one goal
8. Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, fourteen appearances in UEFA Conference League and two goals
9. Appearances in UEFA Conference League

International

Deac during a podcast in 2021.

As of match played 14 October 2020^[22]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Romania	2010	9	0
	2011	2	0
	2017	2	1
	2018	5	2
	2019	5	1
	2020	3	0
Total		26	4

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Deac goal.^[22]

List of international goals scored by Ciprian Deac

#	Date	Venue	Cap	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	8 October 2017	Telia Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark	12	Denmark	1–1	1–1	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	31 May 2018	Sportzentrum Graz-Weinzödl, Graz, Austria	15	Chile	2–2	3–2	Friendly
3	5 June 2018	Stadionul Ilie Oană, Ploiești, Romania	16	Finland	2–0	2–0	Friendly
4	26 March 2019	Stadionul Dr. Constantin Rădulescu, Cluj, Romania	19	Faroe Islands	1–0	4–1	UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying

Honours

CFR Cluj^[21]

• Liga I: 2007–08, 2009–10, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
• Cupa României: 2008–09, 2009–10;^[23] runner-up: 2012–13
• Supercupa României: 2009, 2010,^[24] 2018, 2020;^[25] runner-up: 2012, 2019, 2021, 2022

Schalke 04^[21]

• DFB-Pokal: 2010–11

Rapid București^[21]

• Cupa României runner-up: 2011–12

Individual

• Gazeta Sporturilor Romanian Footballer of the Year runner-up: 2020;^[26] third place: 2022^[27]
• Liga I Team of the Season: 2019–20,^[28] 2020–21,^[29] 2021–22,^[30] 2022–23^[31]
• Liga I Most Assists: 2022–23, 2023–24
• Digi Sport Liga I Player of the Month: May 2014,^[32] March 2017^[33]

References

1. "UEFA Nations League 2021: Booking List before League phase Matchday 6" (PDF). UEFA. 16 November 2020. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
2. "Best of the best! Dan Petrescu, la un titlu de recordul absolut + doi jucători-simbol de la CFR Cluj, lângă Lăcătuș, Lucescu sau Tudorel Stoica" [Best of the best! Dan Petrescu, one title away from the record + two symbol players from CFR Cluj, next to Lăcătuș, Lucescu or Tudorel Stoica]. Gazeta Sporturilor (in Romanian). 15 May 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
3. "Schalke complete Deac swoop". FC Schalke 04. 27 August 2010. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
4. "Deac, titular la Schalke" (in Romanian). ziare.com. 29 January 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
5. "Ionita si Deac, in topul tepelor din Bundesliga" (in Romanian). ziare.com. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
6. "Rapid l-a împrumutat pentru un an pe Ciprian Deac" (in Romanian). antena3.ro. 25 May 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
7. "Oficial! Rapid l-a imprumutat pe Ciprian Deac pentru un an!" (in Romanian). a1.ro. 25 May 2011. Archived from the original on 31 May 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
8. "Lucescu acuză arbitrajul: "Deac a fost eliminat gratuit şi am avut penalty la Teixeira"" (in Romanian). gsp.ro. 20 December 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
9. "Giuleştenii s-au răzbunat pe teren: FC Vaslui – Rapid: 2–3" (in Romanian). tvr.ro. 20 December 2011. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
10. "VIDEO Rapid păstrează farmecul Ligii – CFR a fost umilită în derby-ul feroviar, scor 0–5" (in Romanian). gsp.ro. 8 April 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
11. "Ciprian s-a întors acasă!" (in Romanian). CFR Cluj. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
12. Чиприан Дяк: Хотим подарить городу праздник. fc-aktobe.kz (in Russian). FC Aktobe. 23 June 2015. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
13. Актобе выставляет игроков на трансфер. fc-aktobe.kz (in Russian). FC Aktobe. 18 November 2015. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
14. "DE ACum se intoarce. Ciprian Deac a plecat cu CFR in cantonament. Miriuta: "Il bag unde vrea, si-n poarta"" (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 17 January 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
15. "Primul transfer din "era FCSB" se face la începutul săptămânii! A acceptat oferta" [The first transfer of the "FCSB era" will be completed at the start of the week! He accepted the offer] (in Romanian). Digi Sport. 2 April 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
16. "Chiajna – CFR Cluj 0–1. Liderul s-a impus printr-un gol marcat din penalty de Deac" [Chiajna – CFR Cluj 0–1. The league leaders won with a penalty scored by Deac] (in Romanian). Digi Sport. 17 September 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
17. "CFR Cluj: lotul de jucători și alte date statistice" [CFR Cluj: player squad and other statistics] (in Romanian). Liga Profesionistă de Fotbal. 24 May 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
18. "Motivul pentru care a fost selecţionat Deac şi de ce se regăseşte Golofca pe lista adiţională! Daum a oferit explicaţii pentru deciziile luate" [The reason Deac was called up and why Golofca is on the additional list! Daum explained his decisions] (in Romanian). ProSport. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
19. "Denmark 1–1 Romania". UEFA. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
20. "C. Deac". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
21. "Titles won". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
22. "Ciprian Deac". European Football. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
23. "CUPA ROMÂNIEI RĂMÂNE LA CLUJ-NAPOCA!" (in Romanian). CFR Cluj. 13 June 2009. Archived from the original on 16 June 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
24. "CFR Cluj câştigat Supercupa României" (in Romanian). gandul.info. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
25. "FOTO&VIDEO | CFR Cluj a câștigat Supercupa României!" [PHOTO&VIDEO | CFR Cluj won the Romanian Supercup!] (in Romanian). Romanian Football Federation. 15 April 2021. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
26. "GALA GSP 2020. Dennis Man – "Fotbalistul anului" în Ancheta Gazetei Sporturilor: "Știu că acest premiu vine cu obligații, sunt conștient"" [GSP GALA 2020. Dennis Man – Footballer of the Year in the Gazeta Sporturilor superlatives: "I know this prize comes with responsibilities, I am aware of that"]. Gazeta Sporturilor (in Romanian). 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
27. "Nicolae Stanciu este Fotbalistul Român al Anului 2022: "Mi-am dorit enorm ca într-o zi să fie scris și numele meu pe acest trofeu"" [Nicolae Stanciu is the 2022 Romanian Footballer of the Year: "I really wanted that one day my name would be written on this trophy"]. Gazeta Sporturilor (in Romanian). 15 November 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
28. "LPF a anunțat echipa sezonului în Liga 1 » CFR Cluj dă cei mai mulți jucători, FCSB doar unul" [LPF has announced the "ideal team" of the Liga 1 season! CFR Cluj offers the most players, FCSB only one.] (in Romanian). GSP. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
29. "LPF a ales "echipa ideală" a sezonului din Liga 1! Care echipă a oferit cei mai mulți jucători" [LPF has chosen the "ideal team" of the Liga 1 season! Which team offers the most players] (in Romanian). Digi Sport. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
30. "LLPF a anunțat echipa ideală a sezonului de Liga 1 » FCSB și CFR Cluj, reprezentate de câte 3 jucători" [LPF has chosen the "ideal team" of the Liga 1 season! Which team offers the most players] (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 3 June 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
31. "A fost publicată echipa sezonului din SuperLiga României! Câți fotbaliști au Farul, FCSB și CFR" [LPF has chosen the "ideal team" of the Liga 1 season! Which team offers the most players] (in Romanian). DigiSport. 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
32. Jucatorul lunii mai; Digisport.ro, 23 May 2014 (in Romanian)
33. "Fotbalistul lunii – Martie 2017" [Player of the Month – March 2017] (in Romanian). Digi Sport. March 2017. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.

External links

• Ciprian Deac at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
• Ciprian Deac at National-Football-Teams.com
• Ciprian Deac – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Ciprian Deac – UEFA competition record (archive)